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06 - Anthem - Ayn Rand · Science Fiction Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter six. We have not written for thirty days. For
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  Speaker 1: thirty days we have not been here in our tunnel.
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  Speaker 1: We had been caught. It happened on that night when
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  Speaker 1: we wrote last. We forgot that night to watch the
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  Speaker 1: sand and the glass which tells us when three hours
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  Speaker 1: have passed and it's time to return to the city theater.
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  Speaker 1: When we remembered the sand had run out, we hastened
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  Speaker 1: to the theater, but the big tent stood gray and
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  Speaker 1: silent against the sky. The streets of the city lay
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  Speaker 1: before us, dark and empty. If we went back to
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  Speaker 1: hide in our tunnel, we would be found in our
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  Speaker 1: light with us. So we walked to the home of
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  Speaker 1: the street sweepers. When the council of the home questioned us,
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  Speaker 1: we looked upon the faces of the council, but there
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  Speaker 1: was no curiosity in those faces, and no anger, and
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  Speaker 1: no mercy. So when the oldest of them asked, where
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  Speaker 1: have you been, we thought of our glass box and
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  Speaker 1: of our light, and we forgot all else, and we answered,
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  Speaker 1: we will not tell you. The oldest did not question
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  Speaker 1: us further. They turned to the two youngest and said,
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  Speaker 1: and their voice was bored, take our brother equality two
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  Speaker 1: five two one to the Palace of Corrective Detention, lash
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  Speaker 1: them until they tell so. We were taken to the
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  Speaker 1: stone room under the Palace of Corrective Detention. This room
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  Speaker 1: has no windows, and it is empty save for an
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  Speaker 1: iron post. Two men stood by the post, naked for
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  Speaker 1: leather aprons and leather hoods over their faces. Those who
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  Speaker 1: had brought us departed, leaving us to the two judges
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  Speaker 1: who stood in a corner of the room. The judges
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  Speaker 1: were small, thin men, gray and bent. They gave the
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  Speaker 1: signal to the two strong hooded ones. They tore our
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  Speaker 1: clothes from our body. They threw us down upon our knees,
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  Speaker 1: and they tied our hands to the iron post. The
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  Speaker 1: first blow of the lash felt as if our spine
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  Speaker 1: had been cut in two. The second blow stopped the first,
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  Speaker 1: and for a second we felt nothing. Then pain struck
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  Speaker 1: us in our throat, and fire ran in our lungs
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  Speaker 1: without air, but we did not cry out. The lash
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  Speaker 1: whistled like a singing wind. We tried to count the blows,
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  Speaker 1: but we lost count. We knew that the blows were
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  Speaker 1: falling upon our back. Only we felt nothing upon our
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  Speaker 1: back any longer. A flaming grill kept dancing before our eyes,
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  Speaker 1: and we thought of nothing save that grill, a grill,
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  Speaker 1: a grill of red squares. And then we knew that
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  Speaker 1: we were looking at the squares of the iron grille
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  Speaker 1: in the door, And there was also the squares of
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  Speaker 1: the stone on the walls, and the squares which the
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  Speaker 1: lash was cutting upon our back, crossing and recrossing itself
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  Speaker 1: in our flesh. Then we saw a fist before us.
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  Speaker 1: It knocked our chin up, and we saw the red
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  Speaker 1: froth of our mouth on the withered fingers, and the
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  Speaker 1: judge asked, where have you been? But we jerked our
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  Speaker 1: head away, hit our face upon our tied hands, and
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  Speaker 1: bit our lips. The lash whistled again. We wondered who
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  Speaker 1: was sprinkling burning coal dust upon the floor, for we
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  Speaker 1: saw drops of red twinkling on the stones around us.
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  Speaker 1: Then we knew nothing save two voices, snarling steadily, one
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  Speaker 1: after the other, even though we knew that they were
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  Speaker 1: speaking many minutes apart. Where have you been? Where have
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  Speaker 1: you been? Where have you been? Where have you been?
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  Speaker 1: And our lips moved, but the sound trickled back in
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  Speaker 1: our throat, and the sound was only the light, the light,
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  Speaker 1: the light. Then we knew nothing. We opened our eyes,
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  Speaker 1: lying on our stomach on the brick floor of a cell,
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  Speaker 1: we looked upon two hands lying before us on the bricks,
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  Speaker 1: and we moved them, and we knew that they were
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  Speaker 1: our hands, but we could not move our body. Then
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  Speaker 1: we smiled, for we thought of the light and that
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  Speaker 1: we had not betrayed it. We lay in our cell
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  Speaker 1: for many days. The door opened twice each day, once
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  Speaker 1: for the men who brought us bread and water, and
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  Speaker 1: once for the judges. Many judges came to our cell,
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  Speaker 1: first the humblest and then the most honored judges of
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  Speaker 1: the city. They stood before us in their white togas,
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  Speaker 1: and they asked, are you ready to speak? But we
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  Speaker 1: shook our head, lying before them on the floor, and
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  Speaker 1: they departed. We counted each day and each night as
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  Speaker 1: it passed then to night, we knew that we must escape,
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  Speaker 1: for tomorrow the World Council of Scholars is to meet
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  Speaker 1: in our city. It was easy to escape from the
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  Speaker 1: Palace of Corrective Detention. The locks are old on the doors,
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  Speaker 1: and there are no guards about. There is no reason
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  Speaker 1: to have guards, for men have never defied the councils
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  Speaker 1: so far as to escape from whatever place they were
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  Speaker 1: ordered to be. Our body is healthy, and strength returns
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  Speaker 1: to it speedily. We lunged against the door, and it
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  Speaker 1: gave way. We stole through the dark passages, and through
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  Speaker 1: the dark streets, and down into our tunnel. We lit
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  Speaker 1: the candle, and we saw that our place had not
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  Speaker 1: been found, and nothing had been touched, And our glass
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  Speaker 1: box stood before us on the cold oven, as we
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  Speaker 1: had left it. What matter they now the scars upon
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  Speaker 1: our back. Tomorrow, in the full light of day, we
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  Speaker 1: shall take our and leave our tunnel open, and walk
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  Speaker 1: through the streets to the home of the scholars. We
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  Speaker 1: shall put before them the greatest gift ever offered to men.
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  Speaker 1: We shall tell them the truth. We shall hand to
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  Speaker 1: them as our confession these pages we have written. We
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  Speaker 1: shall join our hands to theirs. We shall work together
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  Speaker 1: with the power of the sky for the glory of mankind.
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  Speaker 1: Our blessing upon you, our brothers. Tomorrow you will take
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  Speaker 1: us back into your fold, and we shall be an
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  Speaker 1: outcast no longer. Tomorrow. We shall be one of you
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  Speaker 1: again Tomorrow. End of chapter six